“In other words, you have had me watched.”
“Only by the most trusted of my officers, Sire, on whose discretion I can entirely rely.”
“This is a pretty state of affairs. Can I not go about in my own capital without being dogged by police spies?”
“Your Majesty had given me no orders. It is the duty of my Department to watch over your safety, and in the absence of any express prohibition I did not dare to leave your Majesty without protection. There is no crowned head in Europe, Sire, except the Queen of England, who is not similarly watched. And even she is, on the rare occasions when she visits her capital.”
“And why is she not watched? Because her people are free,” said the King, sharply.
The Minister permitted himself a faint smile.
“The English are a strange race, Sire. It is the best country to be a rebel in, and the worst one to be a ruler in, that I know.”
Maximilian returned to a former remark of the Minister’s.
“You talk of having no orders. You have disobeyed the only order I did give you. I said that no more proceedings were to be taken against the Socialists without my express authority, and you have dared to make these wholesale arrests.”
“I have to humbly ask your Majesty’s pardon. It is true that I received that order, and I fully intended to obey it. Unfortunately, not anticipating that any step of this kind was in immediate contemplation by the police, I neglected to give them instructions in time. It appears that they acted on their ordinary principles, which are to watch all meetings, and break them up directly they become seditious. I am given to understand that language disrespectful to your Majesty was being freely indulged in on this occasion, and those in charge had, of course, no idea that your Majesty was present.”